Shoe and binding and stay for the same



Aug. 22, 1933. E. B.-LUITWIELER 1,923,988

SHOE AND BINDING AND STAY FOR THE SAME Filed April 6, 1932' Irw nib a": EdwavdB.LuzlZwieZefl Patented Aug. 22, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENTI- OFFICE Edward B. Luitwieler, Malden, Mass. Application April 6, 1932. Serial No. 603,586

Claims.

My invention relates to shoes and to bindings and stays for the same, and to methods of making said bindings and stays and applying them to shoes.

The invention, which has among its objects the provision of a textile French binding or stay having a non-tacky, pliable, substantially nonpenetrating' coating, readily made adhesive when moistioned with water, will be best under stood from the following description of several examples of the article and of methods of making and applying the same, the scope of the invention being more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Heretofore, French binding has been applied by sewing it at its edge to the edge of the shoe upper about the shoe opening, and then bending it over said edge and cementing it in place. It has been proposed for this purpose to coat French bindings with a permanently tacky adhesive, but this has the disadvantage of rendering necessary the use of a shield so that the binding may be handled and wrapped in coils, and the further disadvantages that the permanently tacky adhesive causes the binding to creep when applied to the shoe and is liable to gum up the needle during the sewing operation. It has also been proposed to coat French bindings with a non-tacky, heat-softening adhesive, which has the disadvantage of rendering necessary the use of expensive and cumbersome or complicated apparatus for applying the binding, especially when a folding machine or the like is employed, and of rendering necessary the storage of the coils of binding in a cool place to prevent softening of the adhesive.

Heretofore, the use of glue or water soluble gums for the adhesive coating of French'bindings and stays for shoes has been impractical 40 for the reason that such substances are not pliable when hard, and, further, that they soak into, or penetrate, the textile binding or stay to such an extent as to render them extremely still, making it extremely diflicult, if not impossible, to bend them satisfactorily about the edge of the shoe opening and apply them properly. In fact, these substances, which act to size the binding, and are commonly employed in connection Wtih textiles when a stiifening sizing is desired, normally when applied to one side of a French binding will completely penetrate the same and mar the appearance of the opposite side.

According to the present invention, the cementitious substance employed is pliable or flaccid when hard and can be readily made adhesive by application of a small amount of water to form a quick drying adhesive, and further this substance is predominantly confined to the surface of the binding or stay so as to eliminate all substantial tendency of the coating to stifien the stay and prevent its successful application to the shoe, or render the edge of the shoe unduly stiff when the binding or stay is applied. This non-penetration of the coating also causes the side of a French binding opposite the coating to retain its desired original finished appearance.

In the drawing:-

Fig. 1 illustrates one form of French binding according to the invention in the process of making it;

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate successive steps of finishing the edge of the shoe with the French binding made according to Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 illustrates a shoe upper having a stay constructed according to the invention.

The textile material of whichthe French binding or the stay is formed may assume various -forms. That illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a ribbon having, at opposite sides thereof, the selvaged edges 1. As shown, the edge portions 3 of the ribbon are formed of silk, and the central portion 5 of cotton. It will be understood that only the edge portions 3 are exposed when 5 the binding is applied to the shoe, and therefore that the construction described efiects a material saving over having the ribbon of silk for its entire width.

According to one manner of practicing the invention, a glue is applied to one side of the ribbon just described, this glue being so compounded as to be quick jellying so as to avoid material penetration of the textile material, or, in other words, to confine the material to one side of the ribbon. ,So that the ribbon will be pliable when the glue is hard, the glue is so compounded that it itself is pliable when hard. Also, the fact that the glue is so applied that it is confined to the surface portion of the ribbon, prevents the glue from sizing or stiffening the latter and from marring the appearance of the opposite side when applied to but one side thereof. Also, to the end of securing the remaining desirable features of the invention, this glue is so compounded as to be non-tacky when hard, so that the final product may be readily handled and wrapped in coils without the use of a shield, and so that it will not gum up the needle during the sewing operation; and still 0 its original properties and when adhesive does not penertate the textile.

As an example of a suitable cementitious coating material, but without limitation thereto,

that employed preferably is an animal glue such as bone or hide glue, a satisfactory composition consisting of by weight 50 parts bone glue with 50 parts water, or 50 parts hide glue with 75 parts water, or a mixture of these two glues with an appropriate change inthe amount of water. For rendering the glue pliable, 10 to 40% by weight of glycerin or zinc oxide may be added to the solution. Preferably, however, 20% zinc oxide and 10% glycerin are employed as giving most satisfactory results. This glue, besides being pliable and non-tacky when hard, and capable of forming an adhesive without penetrating the textile when slightly moistened withwater, also has the property when applied hot of jellying quickly so as to prevent it from penetrating the textile. Conveniently the pliability of the coating is controlled by varying the amount of zinc oxide, and the quick jellying property controlled by varying the amount of glycerin, although each of these substances acts to make the material pliable.

In forming the above mentioned glue, flake or powdered glue may be soaked in water for several hours, and the mixture then raised to about 135 F. until it is liquid, care being taken not to boil it. The glue may be applied to the ribbon in any convenient manner as, for example, by use of any suitable spreading apparatus known to the art. Preferably the glue is applied to the ribbon at a temperature of from 115 to 130 F., in which case the glue will jelly in about 15 seconds after its application, thus preventing penetration of the textile and confining the glue to the surface portion of the ribbon. As before mentioned, the quickness of the jellying of the glue, which determines the penetration may be controlled by varying the amount of glycerin, and with the proportions of constituents given this penetration is such as merely to cause the minute irregularities on the surface of the threads of the textile to be embedded in the glue so as to cause it to adhere to the textile and so that when the ribbon is to be cut or split the glue will serve to bind together the warp and filler threads at the unselvaged edge of the cut or split portion to prevent raveling thereof. Also with the proportion of parts given the glue when hardened has such an extreme degree of flexibility that when in sheet form, such as occurs when it constitutes a coating for the tape or other textile, it may be crumpled without fracture similarly to cloth or thin leather; in other words, the coating is flaccid. Due to the quick jellying property of the glue it does not enter the interstices among the threads of the textile, or among the fibers of the individual threads thereof, even when applied to the textile in the form of a relatively thick coating,

but bridges these interstices and forms a relatively smooth continuous coating over the textile,

leaving the latter substantially in open-mesh condition. As a result the flaccidity of the textile is not destroyed, and the gluecoating being flaccid the coated product has the same property, whereas it would not have this property if the fibers of the threads or interstices among the threads were filled with the glue. It will be observed that the finished binding in effect comprises a sheet of cementitious material upon a sheet of textile material. Upon slightly moistening the exposed surface of the sheet of cementitious material is has been found thatit becomes extremely tacky without displaying any tendency to penetrate the textile, evidenced by the fact that if the binding is ripped from the surface of the leather to which it has been secured the textile strip commonly parts from the cementitious sheet, leaving the latter adhering to the leather, and the textile strip thus removed exhibits all the characteristics in regard to flaccidity of the original textile strip.

After the ribbon is treated as above described and the glue has hardened, it is operated upon by a splitting machine to split it into the halves 7, each of which may have an edge portion so formed by the splitting operation as to render the two resulting pliable strips freely bendable laterally as, for example, as shown the edge of the strip is formed for this purpose with Serrations 9. Each half ribbon so formed it will be understood constitutes a strip of French binding.

In applying the French binding to the shoe upper, indicated at 11 in Figs. 2 and 3, the binding commonly will be presented to the upper with its uncoated side facing the upper and with its selvages' edge 1 approximately aligned with the edge 15 of the shoe opening, and will be sewed to the upper by a line of stitching 17 adjacent said edges. The coated side of the binding may then be slightly moistened, say by subjecting it to a mist-like spray of water, preferably hot water or steam which act more quickly than cold water, and then be bent tightly around the edge 15 to the opposite side of the upper and secured to said sideby the adhesive, surface caused by the water. The lining 19 of the shoe may then be inserted and secured to the upper by the row of stitching 21.

It will be understood that the line of stitching 17 is placed very close to the selvaged edge, and that the binding in bending it around the edge of the upper is pulled until the row of stitching 17 smiles so that the line of stitching 21 may be placed close to said edge. It will be observed by this process that the two lines of stitching commonly will pass through a non-tacky adhesive so that the needle will not be gummed up, and that by confining the glue to one side of the binding, and preventing it from penetrating the binding when soft, no glue exists on the exposed side of the binding in the finished shoe.

The invention is also applicable to stays to be placed about the edge portion of a shoe opening for reinforcing the upper, especially when the latter is of a grade of leather having little tensile strength or liable to stretch. Such a stay is indicated in Fig. 4 at 23. The coating may be applied to one side of the textile ribbon forming the stay, which coating may be used for applying it to the inner side of the upper 25 adjacent the edge of the shoe opening, after which the lining 27 may be placed in position and secured in place by the lines of stitching 29.

It will be understood that wide deviations may be made from the forms of theinvention described without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. Binding and the like for shoes comprising a flaccid textile strip having at one side there-- of a continuous coating of flaccid non-tacky threads of said strip in non-penetrating forming a quick drying adhesive when the surface thereof is slightly moistened with water, the interstices among the threads of said strip being open and said coating bridging said interstices.

3. French binding and the like for shoes comprising a flaccid textile strip having one edge portion so cut as to render said strip freely bendable laterally, said strip having atone side only thereof a continuous coating of flaccid nontacky water sensitive cementitious material capable of forming a quick drying adhesive'when the surface thereof isslightly moistened with water, said coating bridging said interstices among the threads of said strip and being in substantially non-penetrating relation to the individual threads.

4. French binding and the like for shoes comprising a flaccid textile strip having a selvage at one edge and having its opposite edge so cut as to render said strip freely bendable laterally, said strip having at one side only thereof -a continuous coating of flaccid non-tacky water sensitive cementitious material capable of forming a quick drying adhesive when the surface thereof is slightly moistened with water, the

interstices among the threads of said strip being open and said coating bridging said interstices and being in substantially non-penetrating relation to the individual threads.

5. A shoe upper having an edge portion with a flexible binder comprising a flaccid textile strip sewed at one edge thereof to said edge portion of said upper at one side of the latter and bent around said edge portion and secured to the opposite side thereof by an interposed non-tackyflaccid sheet of cementitious material which bridges the interstices among the threads of said strip in substantially non-penetrating relation to the individual threads.

EDWARD B. LUITWIELER. 

